That was the official reason.  Personally, I figured she was smart enough to tell that any interviewer who saw us right now would have to be blind not to see what was really going on.

So she organised a car for us and we necked the entire way back to the hotel.  My hands were buried under Darren's shirt, his gripping my arse through the thick material of my pants, lost in a long sweet kiss when I became aware of the cabbie clearing his throat in an overly loud fashion.  I froze.

It was around this time that reality finally sunk in.  It hit me that I was in an advanced stage of foreplay in the back seat of a cab somewhere along Kingston Road.  This was not sane behaviour.  My only consolation was that publicity of my identity wouldn't reach print until morning so there was no way the cabbie could recognise us.  Redfaced, I slipped him the fare and dragged Darren from the cab, not waiting for change.

The lift took hours to get to my floor. The entire way there I could feel Darren's eyes on me like a burning brand.  I wouldn't let myself touch him for fear I'd lose control before we were safely inside.  We reached the hotel room and I couldn't help fumbling for what felt like days to find the key. I almost dropped it when I made the mistake of looking at him. His eyes were compelling, full of desire and questions. Finally the insolent door budged open.

Alone with Darren. I was at a loss as to how to behave.  How to act, what to say and do. I wanted it to be different from last time.  I wanted it to be more than sex. He meant too much to me. //How do people act when they're on dates?//  I could barely remember... 
 
He was staring at me.  Not glaring, just... questioning.  I wanted to close the distance between us, drag him into my arms and kiss him, but I didn't want to be presumptuous.  Crazy, huh?  The first time we met I'd barely said three words to him before his tongue was in my mouth, but at that moment I couldn't even take his hand. I didn't want to make him feel like a prostitute.

I didn't know what to do so I wasn't doing anything. I was fucking it up big time.

"You want a drink or something?"  First thought in my head, and I grabbed at it.  Swung the fridge door open, hiding behind it, wanting to die.  I'd barely started the internal self-recriminations when I felt him sidle up behind me, arms sliding around my waist, hands resting gently across my chest. 

"I'm not thirsty..."

His warm breath caressed the back of my neck and he dropped a kiss on my shoulder.  The awkwardness splintered and shattered, replaced suddenly by heat... and need.

I leaned back into his embrace, reaching behind my body to slide my hands down over his hips and arse, pulling him closer.  I tilted my head to the side, seeking his lips and he brushed them across my cheek. I could feel his chest warm against my back, his groin against my arse. I closed my eyes briefly, savouring his heat, before turning in his arms to face him.  I stared into his eyes, our breaths mingling, until the chilled air from the refrigerator started to bring bumps to my skin.

Darren ran one long fingered hand down my arm, studying the bumps with a childlike smile.  Then his fingers encircled my wrist and he brought my hand up to his mouth, eyes locking with mine as he pressed a soft kiss to my palm.  That gentle, innocent act sent enough heat to my groin to power my house for a week.  He rested his cheek against my palm, closing his eyes, and I let my hand furrow through his silky hair, slipping to the back of his head and drawing him closer, closer, until his lips found mine.  

Kissing him distracted me.  I couldn't think of all the reasons why I shouldn't be taking advantage of Darren, when I was drowning in his sweet taste, //How many other men have tasted these lips?// and running my hands over his lush body. //And how many have worshipped this body?//

I broke the kiss, panting.  //Damn you, Jones. Damn you to Hell.//

He looked at me with luminous eyes, a furrow of concern in his brow.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."  He didn't buy it. Just stared at me long and hard until I knew he wouldn't speak before I did.  So I spoke. "I just... I don't want to be another transaction to you."

"Is that what you think this is?"  His voice peaked a little as he spoke. "I fuck you, you sign me. Fame in exchange for sex?"  It sounded so crude.  I tried not to wince.

"No.  I don't think that's what this is. I mean, I hope it isn't... but if it was..."  Shit, when did I turn into a moron?  "I don't want you to be here if you don't want to be.  Either way you're getting signed and you're going to be huge.  You belong on that stage, Darren, you're made for it.  But I don't want you selling yourself anymore, especially not to me."  

There was that incredulous look again.

"Don't you think if I was playing you, Dan, that I would've done a better job of it?"  I laugh at this, a ghost of relief colouring me.  He smiled a crooked smile at me, shaking his head, I guess wondering how I could be so dense.  I was beginning to wonder myself.

"You were never just another transaction to me, Daniel."  He moved closer to me, speaking emphatically.  My heart glowed.  With everything in me, I believed him.

His fingers at my neck pulled me forward until our lips touched.  A gentle brush, once, twice, lips across lips, then his latched onto mine and our tongues entwined.  I shuddered into his embrace and curled my arms around his slender frame, drawing my hands up his body, over the backs of his legs, delectable arse, up underneath his shirt to the smooth skin of his back.

Chest to chest, groin to groin, we couldn't get close enough.  His hands sought the curve of my arse, my nipples, a stroke here, a touch there setting me alight.  We explored each other in a convoluted dance, trying to get inside each other while still remaining upright.  It couldn't work for long.

He gave in first, tearing his mouth from mine, breathing harsh.

"There a bed in this place?"

"You know where it is."

He took my hand and led me there.  Moments later he was lying stretched out on the bed, invitation in every line of him. I got caught staring at him, standing at the end of the bed just taking him in. His eyes seemed to glow with heated desire, the curve of his body across the sheets exquisite, and the bulge in his pants... unmistakable. He cocked his head at me, lifting one hand from the bedspread, his mouth curving into a luscious smile as he beckoned me closer with a crooked finger.

Tempted, I dropped onto the bed, crawling on top of him and capturing his mouth. It'd only been moments since our last kiss, but it felt like years.  His hands on my back forced my body down on top of his, so close only layers of clothing separated us.  Too soon it wasn't enough. I wanted that last barrier gone.  It was painful to take my mouth from his, but I had to in order to get his shirt over his head.  He copied my actions and soon the only clothing that remained was our underwear.

He stripped my undershorts from me with practised ease, but when it was my turn to remove his, I got distracted. His cock, thick and hard jutted out into my palm and I couldn't help but caress it through the soft cloth of his briefs.  He moaned and sucked my tongue into his mouth.  I felt the material getting damp beneath my fingers.

"Danny, please..."  He murmured against my lips

I rubbed a little more, feeling the roll of his hips against me in reaction, his movements sending little zings of pleasure through my own body. I teased him a little longer until his noises and movements told me he was reaching his threshold.  Actually his little moans and sinuous motions were pushing me right to the limit of my own control. Locking my eyes with his, my fingertips slipped beneath the waistband of his underwear.

At the first touch of my fingers to his hot, slick flesh his eyes slammed shut, head dropped back and my name bubbled from his lips in a long tortured groan. It had been far, far too long since I'd last touched him like this.

I wrapped my hand around him, feeling the pulse of his heartbeat through my palm, my own hips bucking and rolling, rubbing my cock against his leg in time as I began to stroke him.  His head remained titled back, eyes still closed in ecstasy as I devoured the soft pale skin of his neck, kissing down his chest and tonguing his nipples. I couldn't help smiling against his skin when I heard his appreciative moans.

I continued to suckle at his eager flesh, my hands working overtime to drive him mad. His fingers tangled in my hair, pressing the back of my neck, encouraging me.  I slipped further down his body, kissing his torso, his stomach. My mouth had almost reached where my hands were, my breath hot on his skin just above his underwear when I heard him whimper.  The whimper turned into a shaky moan as I finally drew his briefs off, releasing his cock from the soft confines.  

"Dan, no... you don't have t-OHHHHHHHHH..."

His loud groan of ultimate pleasure was reward enough. I took him into my mouth as far as I could.  How sorely I'd missed the taste of him.  How quickly I'd gotten addicted to it.  He arched to my mouth, a tangled stream of moans and endearments tumbling from his lips.  I could tell he was close. I wanted to take him there.

I was just about to increase my pace to a speed guaranteed to bring him off when his fingers gently tugged at the hairs of the back of my head, pulling my head upwards. Reluctantly I let his hard flesh slip from my mouth and shot him a questioning look.  The strain of stopping at this point showed in his face.  He was flushed, gasping violent breaths, his expression pure determination.

"Wait..." he panted, "I want..."

He gave up on words and the next thing I knew he'd flipped me onto my back and straddled me, pressing our cocks together.  He rolled his hips against mine, making his erection, still wet with my saliva, rub against mine.  I could only moan, grasp his hips and rock back against him.  He ground himself against me and I growled at the almost rough contact. 

He looked so beautiful. Perched above me, eyes tight, chest a streak of pale skin before my eyes.  I pulled him down to suckle his neck, taste the flesh that taunted me.  Grasping, groping, we couldn't stay that way for long, the need was too intense. He tore his mouth away and pitched over the side of the bed, arse in the air as he dug around his clothes for supplies. His arse was pure invitation, sticking up like that. I ran a finger down his spine and palmed the pale cheeks.

Finally he sat up, brandishing condoms and lube, and I pressed up against his back, my cock brushing tantalisingly at his arse, my lips automatically seeking out the soft flesh of his neck.  I took the condom from him, my lips not leaving his skin even once as I unwrapped it.

He shivered as I drew my hands down his sides, shifting forward slightly to give me room to put the condom on. I didn't. Instead I pulled his body back against mine, reaching around in front of him to stroke the rubber onto the hard flesh of his erection.

"Dan..." his voice was tinged with confusion.

"Shhh..." I silenced him, murmuring between soft kisses at his neck as I finished rolling the condom onto him.  "I want you inside me." I whispered, remembering how he'd said the same thing to me once.  I don't know if his shivery moan was in response to my words or the soft squeeze of my hand on his cock as I said it.

He turned then, faced me in my arms, so close our cocks brushed. I had to catch my breath.

"It'll hurt." He warned flatly. No 'maybe', no 'might'. He was trying to scare me.

"I don't care." I said. It was the truth.

He seemed to consider it for a moment, then my lips were claimed in a searing kiss that could've fried my brain.  As our tongues and cocks dueled I became aware of lubed fingers gently rubbing around my arse. He was preparing me. I lost myself in his kiss and let him. It didn't take long for it to stop feeling weird and start feeling good. Soon I was pushing back against his fingers, wanting - needing more.

My cock was about to explode when he finally laid me down on my stomach and pressed his body against the length of my back. His slick cock gently prodded my arse.

"You sure?" His voice was soft in my ear, but I could hear the strain in it, how much he was restraining himself for me.

"Do it Darren, please..." I answered, my voice too needy to be my own.

It did hurt. But he went slow. He cooed and moaned in my ear and played with my cock, easing in until the pain turned to pleasure. Then he was filling me and surrounding me, voice in my ear, hand on my cock, and we were pumping and moving, riding a wave of feeling that just kept getting more and more intense.

I know I called his name out as my come spattered the sheets. I know he called mine as he exploded inside me. It felt so good I felt like I didn't deserve it, like I could never in my life do anything to deserve to feel so good.

He disposed of the condom and we curled into each other's arms. Lying there sticky and sated, my arse aching and his breath feathering across my face, I'd never felt so complete.

"Are you OK?" he asked, fingers gently caressing my back.

"I'm better than OK." I admitted.  And I was.  I was with him.